Movin' On Up

On Saturday Leigh and I went to Grasse, the perfume capital of the world, with our new roommates Sam and Duygu. It was a fun trip. We took a free tour of the perfume factory and did some (rather expensive) shopping at the factory store. Leigh and I each splurged on some eau de toilette for ourselves and got gifts for others too. I plan to post more about this on my website later this week.

When we got home from our day trip we decided to start planning our Christmas trip. After some online searching and final decisions being made, we bought all necessary plane tickets and made reservations for two cities. I then heard back from another language assistant who lives in Paris confirming that we could use her apartment for free during the holiday. What luck!

As of now we plan to fly to Geneva on December 18 and take the train to a small village about 2 hours away to stay at a chalet in the Alps. After a few nights there we will fly to Amsterdam and stay at a Christian hostel for a few nights and will take a day trip to Maasstricht, the town my family is from. Then we will take the Thalys bullet train to Paris (tickets not yet purchased) and stay there long enough to see the left bank, the right bank, Versailles, and do some shopping before taking the TGV back to Nice (tickets not yet purchased). It will be a long trip, but surprisingly less expensive than our Italy trip and will include some places Leigh and I have both wanted to visit for a long time now.

I haven't really been updating about the situation at the apartment, but it's not good. The living conditions include such charming items like leaks in the ceiling and floor, black mold growing everywhere (thanks to the leaks), a difficult and constantly dirty kitchenette, frequent visits from caretakers and poolmen (so I get no privacy or mornings to sleep in), and most recently a visit from a HUGE GARDEN RAT. Anyway, I have been really looking forward to moving into the bright, shiny, new apartment near the center of Antibes. Leigh is about at her wit's end living here, so we actually decided to move in mid-month and lose some rent on the old place. Oh well.

Today Leigh and I packed up all of our stuff in the shithole studio apartment on Cap d'Antibes. Early tomorrow morning we will take our stuff to the new apartment by bus and will NEVER EVER RETURN to this place again. Thank God, I think I'm getting spores in my respiratory system.